Silent sounds from within

silence

the absence of sound

it can be scary unsettling

it may suffuse you with apprehension

it might simply make you uncomfortable

why do we all feel

like the pilot in that joke who turns to

his co-pilot

midfly and asks

where is this awful silence coming from

the co-pilot replies

i think it’s coming from the engines

let me ask you this question when was

the last time you felt comfortable being

silent

when you didn’t reach into your pocket

for your phone

to check the news the mail the tasks in

your calendar

when’s this fear of silence

what does it portend what does it mean

i want to convince you today that we

need silence

to hear our voice within and we needed

to create

and give meaning to our existence

i am by training a linguist and i like

to ponder the question of

how meaning is created

and how we use sounds to communicate

meaning

there is a theory from this book

which argues that we started to use

language

by first understanding sounds

by assigning meaning to the

vocalizations made by others

and only later did we become capable

of producing sounds and creating meaning

ourselves

in other words it was while we were

silent

that we became capable of understanding

others

and perhaps ourselves

but how is it possible to go from

understanding a few sounds

to creating new meanings

well consider sounds such as

what kind of meanings do these sounds

evoke for you

did you hear whisper softly spoken

or serpents slithering through the grass

did you think of thieves stealthily

sneaking through the night

to swipe your purse

once certain sounds became associated

with certain meanings

it was only a matter of time before

variation in sound

could create variation in meaning

and could communicate variation meaning

we have now traveled far from those

primitive beginnings

to a point where you and i feel that we

could communicate any meaning

using the sounds we grew up hearing

around us

yet there is also an inner voice

speaking to our being

without sounds some would argue without

words

and perhaps this is why we have more

trouble understanding this

i’m sure all of us have heard at one

point or another in our lives

a voice asking or half answering

or skirting the question of the meaning

of life

when we’re children when we get lost in

a game

or in a make-believe world the meaning

of life is all too clear

when we’re children the meaning of life

is play

later upon joining the workforce

upon becoming active members of society

some of us

hear a voice insisting that a job is

more than just a career

for some of us a job is a calling for

others it’s a vocation

who or what is calling on you to be what

you can

become

or do you hear the voice of destiny

urging you to be what you must

become

but is this all we are children lost in

play

and adults trying to fulfill our social

roles

isn’t there another deeper meaning

toward existence

i believe us in this day and age say

with don quixote

who says i know who i am

and who i may be if i choose

imagine a superior being

you could say it was god you could say

it was some

extraterrestrial intelligence far

superior toronto

imagine that this superior being somehow

communicated to you

the meaning of life and all that exists

in this universe

so now you have it it’s clear in your

mind perhaps in a dream or doing a

trance

that’s a period being communicated to

you the meaning of life

how confident do you feel about being

able to pass this message on to others

using sounds

you and i are not related to the ruler

of the universe like jesus the nazarene

for whom the meaning of life was simply

love love one another

you and i have not had socrates as our

teacher and mentor

like plato the greek philosopher

for from the meaning of life was a quest

for the truth

know thyself

you and i have not spent years in

solitude contemplating this question

to achieve enlightenment like buddha the

indian prince

for whom the meaning of life

was a search to see past the world

illusion

maya to escape suffering

i submit to you that despite having that

message about the true meaning of life

clear

in our minds you and i would not be able

to pass it on to others

in fact i suspect you and i have trouble

answering an even more basic question

who am i and what is the sound of my

voice

within

why do i say that

i was fortunate to spend my childhood in

a space time called

communist romania where

the only screen was the black and white

tv screen broadcasting

only a couple of hours a day

the rest of the time it was just static

silent static

and when they did broadcast those couple

of hours

the program was about as interesting as

watching your smartphone

when the battery is it

the strange thing about these e-voices

is that they never leave you alone

you get on the train and there it is

compulsively in your hands

or in your ears

you’re waiting for a friend it comes out

again

you go to the toilet did i continue

i dread the day when they’re going to

make it possible for us to use these

devices

while taking a shower because that’s the

only time i get to hear my voice

within these days

okay so you’re saying that these

e-voices all around us have been getting

louder and our voice within has become

an often

ignored whisper i get it

why should i pay attention to that voice

within

what did it reveal to you

well think of it this way

there are two types of silence there is

the

i need to think silence

and we need this silence for the big

type of question in our lives

am i in love i need to think

should we have children i need to think

should i take that job offering i need

to think

what should i wear for the ted recording

i need to think

okay i lied i didn’t think so much

then there’s also the this gives me

pause to think

type of silence

and this is the one we’re missing these

days

suppose you’re home eating alone

turn off the tv don’t look at your

tablet no headphones

do you realize that you’re literally

adding to

and creating your body

suppose you’re later brushing your teeth

do you stop to wonder where that water

is coming from

you turn around and you open a door

do you know who made that door

let me tell you a story

from my past when i was a high school

student back in romania

when i was much better at listening to

my voice within

i was taking the subway to school every

day

and i remember this one day when this

homeless kid came on the train

begging for money

and this would happen quite often in

those days at least

you’d get pairs of kids usually

and they’d get on the train and start

singing or praying

and i remember how hopeless the whole

thing seemed to me

how helpless i felt

usually i had no money to give them but

even if i had what good with a couple of

bucks

for these kids i mean these kids are

homeless

and then there’s also the collective

constant suspicion that somehow

you’re being taken advantage of that

somebody is

manipulating you

but this day

you know when this kid got on the train

i stopped to listen and i know it’s very

easy and it’s very tempting to

simply ignore that voice within but that

day i didn’t

so when this kid

knelt

and started singing

i knelt with it

and it felt about as artificial as what

i’m doing right now

the kid next to me probably felt that i

was mocking him

other people on the train or you know

some of them were sniggering others were

just

uncomfortable

but i didn’t care

i felt that i could create some meaning

within that situation i could hear my

voice

within singing with this kid

before i let you go to explore silence

on your own

allow me to sum up my message in a poem

i wrote

it’s called soundings

you and i emerge from silence

we then soak up sound patterns specific

to our culture or society

until finally a voice begins to surface

within us

a voice you might call the self

certain of nothing but itself the self

starts questioning its own significance

time stops other voices are suppressed

our physical body becomes second nature

has two questions what does it mean

and what do i mean becomes a fuse

into a single interrogation which seems

to surpass

all other’s insignificance

this voice within can be smothered

by the stupendously successful voices

coming from screens

which stupefy us into addiction and sink

us

into a slumber of insignificance

resist these surreptitious voices

and sound your voice within

thank you

you